The following description relates to elevators and, more particularly, to methods of monitoring elevator rail health with a sensor.
A typical elevator system can include an elevator car that is configured to move vertically upward and downward within a hoistway along a plurality of guide rails as well as a counterweight. The counterweight is configured to move vertically upward and downward within the hoistway in a direction generally opposite the movement of the elevator car and is guided by counterweight guide rails. The elevator car also has doors that open and close to allow passengers to enter and exit at multiple floors.
Before the elevator system can be deployed and during its operational lifetime thereafter, inspection and maintenance is regularly conducted so that unsafe conditions can be addressed and mitigated. Often, the inspection and maintenance deal with conditions of the guide rails and the counterweight guide rails and require that an operator enter into the hoistway to conduct a visual inspection of guide rail surfaces. Repair and replacement of those guide rails that are deemed to be faulty for any reason is then conducted on the basis of the results of the visual inspection.
While such procedures are useful in evaluating guide rail health in many instances, the requirement that the operator enter into the hoistway to conduct the visual inspection is costly and time consuming. Moreover, the operator cannot easily compare a condition of a given guide rail at one time to the condition of that same guide rail at another time. Thus, the operator is generally incapable of making a determination as to guide rail conditional changes over time.